Donald Trump’s ex-national security adviser John Bolton on Monday spelled out how Iran is exploiting the president’s desperation to strike a deal to end his war on the country as negotiations march on.
Bolton, when asked by CNN’s Pamela Brown if Trump “fully understands” Iran’s position in the talks, said he doesn’t think the president understands the “fanaticism” of what’s left of the regime.
“He is somebody who has spent his whole life making deals with people. He thinks everybody wants to make a deal on just about anything. That’s not what these people are into,” Bolton said.
“And they can see that Trump is so palpably desperate to have a deal that he can declare to be a victory and that lowers prices of gasoline, and they’re playing him on that. They’re stretching him out. They’re buying time. All of that works in their advantage.”
Moments earlier, Bolton — a frequent Trump critic since the president pushed him out of the first administration — described reports of a 60-day extension to the ceasefire in a draft proposal as a “mistake,” adding that he hopes the ongoing negotiations “break down” as he views the talks as a “gift” to Tehran.
“I think we’re on the verge of something that ultimately history will decide was a catastrophic loss for the United States,” he said.
“We have done significant damage to the Islamic Republic of Iran and right now we’re letting them undo the damage, and that is a real tragedy, not just for us but for the people in the region.”
Bolton stressed that Iran “has to learn the lesson it cannot get its way in the Gulf by military force,” arguing that the “only way to establish deterrence” against the country’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz is for the U.S. to use military force to open it.
“It’s reasonable to ask why didn’t the administration think of this at the beginning of the war,” he said.
“I don’t know the answer to that question, but the answer now is not to have a diplomatic deal that can be reversed like — by Iran, like turning a light switch on and off.”